Building the next-gen pharma lab

According to the latest Capgemini Research Institute report, Building the next-gen pharma lab: Digitally connected, environmentally sustainable, larger organizations in the pharmaceutical sector – those with more than $10 billion annual revenue in the last fiscal year – are projected to invest nearly 7% of their revenue in lab transformation initiatives by 2025. This represents a significant increase from the current 4% investment level.

Driven by the need to stay competitive and incorporate technological advancements, many pharmaceutical organizations are rethinking their approach to laboratory structure and operations. They are also placing greater emphasis on accelerating digitalization, leveraging AI, enhancing processes, and cultivating the right skills, culture, and mindset within their organization.

However, the majority of pharma labs are still in the early stages of transformation, either running pilots or testing proofs of concept (PoCs). Only 15% of the organizations can be classified as “leaders,” meaning that they excel in both foundational elements, such as tools, technologies, data, architecture, and connectivity, as well as enablers, such as vision, strategy, people, processes, culture, and skills. Almost half of these leader organizations are already experiencing reductions in time to market, human error, late-stage failures, and costs from their efforts.

Building the next-gen pharma lab: Digitally connected, environmentally sustainable highlights the key areas to focus on when developing next-gen, future-ready labs. These include:

• planning a strategy for transformation based on a clear vision, roadmap, and KPIs;
• designing a future-ready architecture that will support continuous improvement;
• building intelligence on strong data foundations to enable collaboration and increase efficiency;
• augmenting human intelligence with AI and incorporating AI into processes;
• optimizing processes to ensure efficient operational continuity;
• collaborating with an interconnected ecosystem across the industry;
• strengthening talent capabilities by hiring, upskilling, reskilling, and partnering; and
• embedding sustainability into products, processes, and operations.